Indian Student, Missing After Night Out With Friends, Found Dead In London Lake

Pic courtesy Metropolitan Police

London: Nearly a week after he had gone missing, the body of Indian student Gurashman Singh Bhatia was found by police divers in a lake in east London’s Canary Wharf area.

Police divers carried out water searches in the area and found the body believed to be that of the 23-year-old Bhatia in the water in South Quay.

UK’s Metropolitan Police said they were appealing for information to piece together Bhatia’s last movements. He had been reported missing after a night out with friends on December 14.

Police carried out “extensive enquiries”, scanned CCTV footage, spoke to witnesses and analysed phone and financial data to trace Bhatia, who had been studying for an MSc degree in Digital Finance at Loughborough University.

According to Detective Chief Superintendent (DCI) James Conway, Gurashman’s death is being treated as ‘unexpected’.

“While there is nothing to suggest it was suspicious, we will ensure our investigation is as thorough as possible to confirm this. Because of this, we are releasing a CCTV image of Gurashman that was taken before his disappearance and would like anyone who may have seen him in the Marsh Wall area on the evening of Thursday, 14 December and in the early hours of Friday, 15 December, to contact us,” PTI quoted Conway as saying.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa flagged Bhatia’s case with Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

“Deeply saddened to hear about the passing of GS Bhatia, a Loughborough University student who was missing since December 14. Our thoughts are with the family and friends during this difficult time. May Waheguru give strength to his parents mourning this profound loss,” wrote on social media.

Last month, another 23-year-old Indian student was found dead in the Thames river after going missing. The student, identified as Mitkumar Patel, had arrived in the UK for higher studies in September and was reported missing on November 17.